{"product_id":"long-division-hardcover","title":"Long Division - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eKiese Laymon\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom Kiese Laymon, author of the critically acclaimed memoir \u003ci\u003eHeavy\u003c\/i\u003e, comes a \"funny, astute, searching\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e) debut novel about Black teenagers that is a satirical exploration of celebrity, authorship, violence, religion, and coming of age in post-Katrina Mississippi. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWritten in a voice that's alternately humorous, lacerating, and wise, \u003ci\u003eLong Division\u003c\/i\u003e features two interwoven stories. In the first, it's 2013: after an on-stage meltdown during a nationally televised quiz contest, fourteen-year-old Citoyen \"City\" Coldson becomes an overnight YouTube celebrity. The next day, he's sent to stay with his grandmother in the small coastal community of Melahatchie, where a young girl named Baize Shephard has recently disappeared. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBefore leaving, City is given a strange book without an author called \u003ci\u003eLong Division\u003c\/i\u003e. He learns that one of the book's main characters is also named City Coldson--but \u003ci\u003eLong Division\u003c\/i\u003e is set in 1985. This 1985-version of City, along with his friend and love interest, Shalaya Crump, discovers a way to travel into the future, and steals a laptop and cellphone from an orphaned teenage rapper called...Baize Shephard. They ultimately take these items with them all the way back to 1964, to help another time-traveler they meet to protect his family from the Ku Klux Klan. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCity's two stories ultimately converge in the work shed behind his grandmother's house, where he discovers the key to Baize's disappearance. Brilliantly \"skewering the disingenuous masquerade of institutional racism\" (\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e), this dreamlike \"smart, funny, and sharp\" (Jesmyn Ward), novel shows the work that young Black Americans must do, while living under the shadow of a history \"that they only gropingly understand and must try to fill in for themselves\" (\u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, Kiese Laymon is the Ottilie Schillig Professor in English and Creative Writing at the University of Mississippi and author of the novel \u003ci\u003eLong Division, \u003c\/i\u003ethe memoir \u003ci\u003eHeavy\u003c\/i\u003e, and the essay collection \u003ci\u003eHow to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America\u003c\/i\u003e. He was recently named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 304\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.3 x 8.4 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 01, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42161807851655,"sku":"9781982177362","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/b51c4cddbd867b125c80173ce9efd75d.webp?v=1733284136","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/long-division-hardcover","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}